For those arriving early, please join us at 7pm for our open mic-style Whispers From Beyond from 7-8pm. This group meets on the second Saturday of each month and spotlights guest speakers from SF and genre related fields of interest.

This group meets on the second Saturday of each month and spotlights guest speakers from SF and genre related fields of interest. This month we welcome Laura Anne Gilman, author of the amazing Cosa Nostradamus and Vineart War series. Join us for a fantastic author and what promises to be a great time!

Face the Fiction Presents:Laura Anne GilmanNovember 13th, 2010

Dateline Borders Ramsey

It was a crazy day for everyone on Saturday as we all raced to Borders for Face the Fiction's monthly author presentation. The beautiful weather of the day provided concealment for Loki, who was apparently running about and making everyone's life a bit more hectic than normal. Car problems, back-wrenching patio block installation, missing books, and allergies were just a few of the issues plaguing the attendees, but in spite of the machinations of Norse trickster gods, we managed to have a really grand night out.

Kate Landis and I arrived nice and early and were met by Gene McGrath. We helped the kind folks at Borders set up the chairs in what Bill Wagner referred to as a 'Bifurcated Arena' in order to make sure that Borders' customers were able to access the Psychology and Children Sections. Laura Anne Gilman arrived nice and early, no thanks to her rented Kia (which led to comments about the road-worthiness of the visor-less punchline-mobile), and as folks filtered in we began to discuss a variety of topics from automobiles, to evil delicatessens, to getting oriented in the City, to finding the best places to have fun in the metro area. All the while, apparently the Borders team was being plagued by inventory elves who showed books on hand that never arrived in the store, muchto our collective chagrin.

As many of us settled in, I gave Laura Anne a quick introduction (people were not there to see me after all), and the night took off like a shot. We started by talking a bit about the Retrievers series of Urban Fantasy novels and the concepts that went into that fun series. Laura Anne explained her process of world-building and her need for a rational and scientific process behind the magic in her setting. For those who have never read the series, which is set inLaura Anne's Cosa Nostradamus universe (as Laura Anne pointed out, she is not averse to playing with a loaded pun), the magic of that world is based off the idea of electricity and something called Current. The idea is that the human body uses electricity and processes Current, but some special people can channel and direct that Current to perform magical actions. In the case of each of theprotagonists in the Cosa Nostradamus Universe, they have a specific ability that they have learned to use in an interesting way.

The Retrievers, which I highly recommend as it is a great series which I highly enjoy, features the character of Wren Valere. Wren's main ability is in being unnoticed and unnoticeable. The way that it was described by Laura Anne: Have you ever met folks who just seem to appear out of nowhere or have been standing next to you for a while but you never noticed, well that's Wren. Finding a wayto use her handicap for best effect, Wren realized that she could make quite the career as a thief, however as she did not want to end up on the wrong side of the law, she mainly gets hired to steal back items that have been wrongfully taken from their owners. This is an occupation that she is quite adept at, and with the aid of her business partner, Sergei Didier, and her demonic friend PB (a miniature red-eyed polar bear sporting a fedora and a wicked sense of humor). One of the recurring themes that we discussed at length was the concept of fitting in between human nulls (non-magical folk), human talents, and fatae (non-humans), and of bullying between the more powerful creatures and their less powerful neighbors (a subject that has been in the news a lot lately). We discussed a lot of Wren's adventures and the tie-ins to the P.U.P.I (Private Unaffiliated Paranormal Investigators) or PSI series featuring Bonnie and her pack of paranormal criminologists.

We wandered then into a long discussion of the whole PSI series. The second book of this series just came out (though it was in stealth mode due to Borders book elves and Loki's trickster nature), and so we were forced to imagine the cool cover art and awesome stuff inside. Thankfully, Laura Anne was a good sport and helped our imaginations with great descriptions of the characters, even more about the setting and its denizens, and a whole lot about the way in which she gets to have input in the cover art. The idea of the PUPI is that they are a scientific band looking to investigate, analyze, and solve mysteries of the Talented and Fatae, learning and expanding knowledge wherever they go. An interesting side-conversation here was about the character of Bonnie, herself, and her hedonistic tendencies, which Harlequin did not even bat an eye-lash in allowing, in spite of their fairly conservative leanings. I won't give anything away, but I will say that I think that Bonnie is one of the most intriguing characters in an Urban Fantasy series to date, and a better role model for any teenager looking for a responsible and logical outlook on relationships would be difficult to find. This is based mainly on our discussion comparing Bonnie to Bella from the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and the horrid example that said character provides for teenagers in regards torelationships.

One important thing that we discussed in regards to all of the series set in the Cosa Nostradamus universe is the concept of universal consistency. As Laura Anne said during the event, she kind of wishes that she or one of the fans would put together a Wiki for her universe as it would make things a lot easier. Making sure that the laws and rules are consistent is fairly easy, but making sure that some of the smaller bits and bobs stay on track can be worrisome. Asa game designer, I can completely sympathize with the intricacies of keeping macro issues in scope. It becomes problematic for Laura Anne in that she now has three series which are going on side-by-side in the same universe. She joked that it was great fun stealing her own dialog for book three in the PSI series as the scene in which Bonnie and Wren are interacting was shown in one of the Retrievers books.

Yet another cool thing that got discussed profusely during the night was the use of the city as a character. As Thom pointed out, if you are in New York and not using the city as a character you are probably doing something wrong, a sentiment with which our guest wholeheartedly agreed. Laura Anne explained the process of researching the Brooklyn Bridge, and of a Transit Security Officer ina booth watching her as she took pictures and made notes. When she introduced herself to the fellow in the booth and explained her purpose, said TSO regaled her with interesting tidbits and factoids (bet you didn't know that the underside of the bridge is purple, did you). As Laura Anne pointed out: it is the little things like that which have to make it into the book as they are just too cool not to share.

Having spent the better part of an hour on the Cosa Nostradamus, we turned our attention to the Vineart Wars series. The roots of this series can be found in a conversation between Laura Anne and her agent about finding ways to make a wine tasting event into tax-deductible research. While she did not get to write-off the wine tasting, Laura Anne did get to craft an amazing series set in a fantastical version of 14th century Bordeaux, France, where wine and the crafting of the vine are used for more than just something to go with delectable viands. An interesting insight came when Laura Anne explained the Dragon image on the cover having come from an awesome piece of art at the Louvre. It is so cool hearing about these little tidbits and anecdotal stories of what truly inspires an author. At any rate, we delved deep into the subject of wine, comparing some notes on varietals and the lamentable over-commercialization of 'white' Zinfandel from its amazing robust red stock.

At this point we realized that we had been laughing and having a great time for over 2 hours without surcease, and that the store would be closing soon (curse these new short hours at Borders). Several of us ran up to purchase our books and get them signed, and we slowly made our way out to chat in the parking lot until nearly 10:30. Sadly, several of us were under the weather, and I wound up not going to the diner, so I have no idea what shenanigans went on outside my presence. Kate and I chatted about music and books and art on the way back to Rutherford.